Month: October 2017

Jungyo Newsreel – October 22nd

Herouth Hana-zumo, Jungyo (巡業) , , , , , , , ,

🌐 Location: Osaka

Terunofuji keeps working like mad

terunofuji-22

He came early to the morning practice, and found himself the only member of the joi present. So he got right up on the dohyo and did 14 bouts (opponents unspecified), of which he won 11 and lost 3. You could see him establish a left-hand upper grip right off the tachiai, and powerfully pushing his opponent all in one go. “Not good enough yet. I want to increase the number of bouts.” he said. When asked if he has any concerns regarding his body he replied with a smile “Yes, I have many of those”.

(Nikkan)

Ikioi goes on a diet to relieve back pain

ikioi-22

The Isenoumi wrestler, who was absent from the jungyo due to back pains, revealed that he was diagnosed following the Aki basho with a bulging disc, causing him pains whenever he leaned forward. He was advised not to have surgery, but instead to strengthen the muscles in the affected area, and lose some weight to take some of the load off it. He is on a diet following that advice.

Today he was not doing any on-dohyo exercise, except kiddie sumo, accompanied by cheers from the local crowd, as he is himself from the Osaka Prefecture.

(Sponichi)

Ichinojo leaves the Jungyo due to hernia

He practiced yesterday in Kishiwada, but did not participate in the torikumi, instead heading back to Tokyo. “It’s a hernia, but it’s a preexisting condition. The affected area has probably been overloaded”, said Tamanoi Oyakata, deputy head of the Jungyo department. “It’s not severe.”

(Sponichi)

Hakuho makes love to Takakeisho

In the form of butsukari geiko, of course…

takakeisho-22
The Miracle Of Love

The dai-yokozuna once again dedicated over five minutes to the youngster (shouldn’t he have deducted their Nagoya bout?), and sent him rolling on the ground time and time again.

The Takanohana wrestler was, of course, grateful for the privilege. “It’s not something he would have done for someone he thinks nothing of.”

Following his disastrous Nagoya basho, Takakeisho says he has learned his lesson: “I became depressed after the initial setbacks, and that made it hard for me to even out my score later on. I need to give 100%, grasp at the challenge, and stir things up without thinking too deeply”. Originating from the nearby Hyogo prefecture, Takakeisho vowed that by the next Osaka honbasho, he will be in sanyaku.

(Daily Sports Online)

Bouts

For those who cherish the Kotoyuki hoot:

Mitakeumi takes revenge on Terunofuji:

Can’t believe he lifted that mountain like that…

And the Musubi of the day:

Note the amount of salt that Hakuho throws in the Jungyo…

Different angle:

Kisenosato must be getting pretty frustrated. Hakuho 6 – Kisenosato 2.

Edit: All Makuuchi bouts of the day:

  • Yutakayama-Asanoyama (Level gap visible)
  • Kaisei-Okinoumi
  • Chiyomaru-Nishikigi (Impressive!)
  • Takekaze-Daieisho (Nice gaburi)
  • Daishomaru-Ishiura (Yet another flagrant henka. The guy has no shame. Doesn’t work, though)
  • Takarafuji-Takanoiwa (Patience pays)
  • Ikioi-Chiyoshoma (Ikioi gets lots of “gambare” at his home prefecture)
  • Kagayaki-Chiyonokuni (Slappity-slap)
  • Takakeisho-Shodai (This one’s weird)
  • Shohozan-Onosho (Looks like Shokkiri for a second there)
  • Chiyotairyu-Hokutofuji (Boom! Boom!)
  • Tochiozan-Kotoshogiku (Kotoshogiku super motivated)
  • Yoshikaze-Tamawashi (Yosh, that’s not the way to an Ozeki run…)
  • Terunofuji-Mitakeumi (Different angle)
  • Kakuryu-Goeido (what’s with all the wardrobe malfunctions?)
  • Kisenosato-Hakuho (Different angle)

For the full Juryo bouts refer to tomorrow’s post.

Short Jungyo Newsreel – October 21st

Herouth Hana-zumo, injury, Jungyo (巡業) , , , ,

Note: to offset today’s bad news, I just found torikumi videos from the 19th, and added them to that day’s post. Do not miss the Terunofuji-Mitakeumi bout!

🌐 Location: Kishiwada

Today’s news are mostly brought to you from hospitals and ambulances, but there is a musubi as well.

Enho injured, leaves Jungyo

Enho

During today’s practice session, Enho fell off the dohyo and injured his ankle. He was carried on a stretcher to the Jungyo’s on-hand ambulance, which got him to a local hospital, where his ankle was bandaged. He was then hurried back to Tokyo for further care. “It hurts both on the inner and the outer side. And it makes crunching sounds.” said Enho “but there is still time until the Kyushu basho”.

Tachiai wishes Hakuho’s uchi-deshi a quick recovery and continued health.

Ikioi joins the Jungyo

On a happier note, Ikioi has joined the Jungyo today. I think he would have wanted to join it yesterday, as his home town of Katano is much closer to Hirakata than it is to Kishiwada. But the Jungyo is still in Osaka Prefecture and I’m sure his local fans were happy to travel the distance to welcome him back.

He was assigned to Ichinojo on the torikumi form, but I do not have any information about the content of that bout.

Update on Nishonoseki Oyakata

As it turns out, when the oyakata had his accident, he was on his way home from a visit to a sauna, where he had a fainting incident. Nevertheless he decided to bike home, and doing that he collapsed with his bicycle and received the head injury that brought about his current condition.

His anesthetic medication  has been reduced to encourage him to regain autonomous breathing, and the doctors observed some positive response.

Shohozan, who is Nishonoseki’s only sekitori, expressed his concern and promised to do his best sumo “for the oyakata” while away on the Jungyo.

Harumafuji Gambarizes

This is a bit of late news from yesterday. After his first day, doing reverse butsukari, he followed that up by teaming with Chiyoshoma for a tachiai practice.

When asked if he is bothered by his elbow, he frowned: “I am not worried, but it hurts. There is almost no inflammation, though. I’ll gambarize”.

And a little bit of actual sumo

The musubi of the day. I think Hakuho decided that if Kisenosato is taking this seriously, then so does he. Hakuho 5 – Kisenosato 2.

Apparently, the gyoji, Inosuke Shikimori, is a Kishiwada local.

Jungyo Newsreel – October 20th

Herouth Hana-zumo, Jungyo (巡業) , , ,

🌐 Location: Hirakata

Terunofuji sweats his heart out

The media continues to follow the ozekiwake’s recovery in his second Jungyo day.

terunofuji-shodai

As he promised yesterday, Terunofuji followed his extensive workout below the dohyo with some real keiko. He invited Shodai to sanban. His first bout was a total mess, possibly due to nerves, but he followed that with seven wins. Then he invited Yago and Meisei of the Juryo division to one bout each, winning those as well.

“I felt like even my heart was sweating. It was very tiring, as I have been away so long” commented the Isegahama man. “I’ll increase the number of bouts from day to day. Tomorrow I hope to do 20 bouts. I have to do twice as much as any other guy.”

Say what we may about the advisability of the kaiju’s return, Asahifuji is not raising any sloths in his stable, that’s for sure.

Goeido enjoys some kiddie sumo

Hirakata, today’s location, is five kilometers away from the Ozeki’s home town of Neyagawa. So on this occasion, the usually severe-looking Goeido decided to let loose a little bit, and engaged in some wanpaku-zumo:

goeido-with-kid

Later, it was time for the local man to do his official bout against Yokozuna Kakuryu. The bout was preceded by kensho-kin banners. One of them for some local project. You don’t see that in a honbasho:

strange-sponsorship-banner

As for the bout itself, it was described as an “amazing victory for Goeido”. So either the Ozeki got super motivated playing on his home turf, or Kakuryu really knows how to sell a Yaocho. :-)

Musubi of the day

Kisenosato and Hakuho continue to give the spectators their money’s worth.

Hakuho sacrifices a few meters for a grip change, and, well, 4:2 to the dai-yokozuna.

More things you see only in the Jungyo

Ever heard of “sumo-jinku” (相撲甚句)?

It’s a traditional song form performed by rikishi dressed in kesho-mawashi. 5-7 rikishi stand in a circle, and one in the middle sings. This is not your 3-minute standard western jingle, either. As you can see in this video, the soloist changes every few minutes. The songs are in the theme of sumo, but not necessarily very serious. The other day I heard one whose general lyrics went “A pumpkin and a cucumber went to see some sumo”. It seems, though, that the score includes some greetings to the audience and wishes for support in the coming honbasho.

These songs (and the accompanying dance moves etc.) are a mandatory subject at the sumo academy (which every rikishi has to attend at some point). Of the current sekitori, Ikioi is considered a very talented jinku performer, but unfortunately, he is not participating in this Jungyo. The ones who are are not half bad, though!

Notice how towards the end the circle turns to the audience, and the rikishi start waving back at any members of the audience who try to get their attention.

What, another Yokozuna+baby dohyo iri?

Yes, but this one is different. Pay attention to the tsuyuharai. Yes. It’s Kotoshogiku. It should be noted that the general rule is that the higher-ranked rikishi is supposed to be the tachi-mochi. But there is a reason why Giku is doing the part that has two free arms to hold the baby: that is his own son!

The last time that Kotoshogiku participated in a Yokozuna dohyo-iri was when Hakuho went to Tohoku after the 2011 tsunami disaster, to encourage the disaster-stricken population the way only a Yokozuna can. Kotoshogiku said at the time that the experience inspired him to strive for that rank as well, which is how he succeeded in achieving Ozeki status. It may be that he repeated the experience today to motivate himself to return to that rank once more.

Who’s That Rikishi #4: Chiyomaru Kazuki

Liam R Kyushu Basho 2017 , ,

Chiyomaru

Age: 26
Birth Name: Kazuki Kinoshita
Home Town: Shibushi, Japan
Stable: Kokonoe
Highest Rank: Maegashira 11

With his rotund physique and jolly personality, one would be hard-pressed to miss Chiyomaru Kazuki. Born in Shibushi city in 1991, Chiyomaru practiced judo throughout much of his youth before entering Kokonoe beya after high school. His younger brother Chiyootori Yuki joined him a year later, and together the two trained under former Yokozuna Chiyonofuji. In 2007 Chiyomaru made his professional debut and made steady progress through sumo’s lower ranks over the next few years. Tragedy would strike his family in 2011 when a fire burned down his parents’ home. Chiyomaru and his brother, now an active rikishi as well, decided to turn their tragedy into motivation and vowed to become more successful to help their parents rebuild their home.

It appeared that Chiyomaru’s younger brother was more serious about their vow, and in 2012 Chiyootori overtook his elder sibling and reached the salaried rank of Juryo. In an attempt to motivate him to train harder, Chiyonofuji assigned Chiyomaru to be a tsukebito for his brother. This assignment had the desired effect on Chiyomaru, who felt shame in being his little brother’s personal attendant. From this point on he applied himself full-heartedly to his training and eventually joined Chiyootori in Juryo at the 2013 Aki basho. In January of the following year, Chiyomaru won his first division championship, taking the Juryo yusho with a 13-2 record. This victory ensured his promotion to the Makuuchi division for the following tournament, where Chiyomaru  joined Chiyotoori and marked the tenth time in history two brothers had competed in the top division simultaneously. Another strong performance saw him promoted to Maegashira 11 for the 2014 Natsu basho, his highest rank to date. Chiyomaru remained in the lower Makuuchi for the next year until a disastrous 3-12 record in May of 2015 saw him relegated back to Juryo. Unable to put together a streak of winning records good enough to warrant a return to the top division, he remained in Juryo for another two years. In July of 2017, Chiyomaru was able to re-establish himself as a top rank rikishi, and he has remained in Makuuchi ever since. Chiyomaru mainly uses oshi-zumo on the dohyo, winning nearly 60% of his matches with either an oshidashi pushout or a yorikiri forceout. Chiyomaru has developed a large following of female fans who find him incredibly kawaii, and who affectionately nicknamed him 22, referencing his body fat percentage.

Kaisei (left) vs. Chiyomaru (right), Aki basho, 2017.

Links:
http://sumodb.sumogames.de/Rikishi.aspx?r=7240
http://www.sumo.or.jp/EnSumoDataRikishi/profile?id=3040
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiyomaru_Kazuki